Ivanjica

Town and municipality in Moravica District, Serbia
the racehorse

Ivanjica (, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 27,767 inhabitants. In 1836, Orthodox church was built in town centre. Ivanjica got the status of a town on 16 June 1866 through the Prince Mihailo Obrenović’s decree, thus becoming one of the first towns in the region. With the 1878 Congress of Berlin recognition of the independence of Principality of Serbia, King Milan I founded the Kingdom of Serbia. In 1918, Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed, following the World War I. From 1929 until the beginning of the World War II, Ivanjica was part of Drina Banovina. In August and October 1941 it was briefly captured and held by forces of Pećanac Chetniks commanded by Božidar Ćosović. With the end of World War II, Ivanjica was part of Užice Oblast. At the time, Ivanjica was the administrative center of so called Moravica County That changed in 1963 following the adoption of the 1963 Yugoslav Constitution, when counties were replaced with regions and municipalities, thus creating the municipality of Ivanjica, as a part of Užice District. Today, Ivanjica is a modern little town and the municipality with around 27,700 citizens. Its economy and development are based on agriculture, lumber industry and tourism.

Ivanjica lies in the southwest of Serbia, at the bank of the Moravica river. It is surrounded by the mountain ranges of Golija, Javor, Mučanj, Čemerno and Radočelo and is in a valley. Ivanjica's highest elevation is 1833 m, at the Jankov Kamen peak. The mountains in this area belong to the Dinaric range. The local environment includes forests and clearings, pastures, springs and rivers, wild fruit, 'medicinal' herbs and various game. The river system of the municipality and its neighborhood is made up of clear fast flowing mountain rivers: the Moravica, the Studenica and the Nošnica which, together with their tributaries, curve down the Moravica mountains. There are and two small lakes: Nebeska Suza and Tičar Lake.

Ivanjica has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb), that's very close to an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb).

The main cultural institutions in the area include the Ivanjica Culture Centre and the Svetislav Vulović Library. Some of cultural events are: Hunters’ Fair and Wolf Hunt, Parade of Folk Creative Work Sounds of Golija, Motorcycle Meetings in Ivanjica, Most Beautiful Love Poem Competition, If May Were All the Time, Parade of Reciters and others. In 2010, cultural event Nušićijada was renewed by initiative of citizen organization "KudeS" from Ivanjica.

The municipality of Ivanjica has 84.47 kilometers of state roads class I, the most in Moravica District, mostly because of its size. It also has 134.3 kilometers of state road class II and 170 kilometers of local roads. This club was a continuous member of the First League for the last several years. Other popular sport clubs are OK Putevi volleyball club and KK Ivanjica basketball club, playing in the lower, regional leagues of western Serbia. On the territory of Ivanjica municipality there are 6 football fields, 2 indoor swimming pools, 2 outdoor swimming pools, 3 gyms, one air rifle range, 29 outdoor fields for recreation, one athletics track, one chess hall and 2 sports halls.